by Ted Eytan, on 05 May 2007 01:14 pm
The Journey
“These are things company executives are not going to figure out for you.”
This is part quote of the week and part memorable statement, made by our hosts at Genie Industries, when we toured the facility in July, 2006. We were being shown a workstation in the plant, and various modifications that had been made over time by individual contributors, given time each day to make the work go faster, safer, and with better quality.
The words came to mind many times this past week, when I participated in a workshop to improve depression care in one of our medical centers, using the power of our clinical information system and our knowhow regarding workflow and care experience. Prior to my first visit to the actual medical center where we would do the work, I was given several ideas regarding the best way to implement our information system tools. I let my clinical experts know that their insight was very valuable, and that I was also looking forward to see what care teams in the medical center would come up with.
Sure enough, the care team did come up with something simple, elegant, and transferrable to other teams in our care system, as well as across the various medical conditions we support. It got better. Throughout the week, each idea kernel put on the table by our visiting team was refined and made workable in short order. At one point, I asked to be shown one such change / improvement - thumbs up, much easier to use for the same amount of effort.
Thank goodness we get to build our clinical quality improvement system this way now….
on 07 May 2007 at 4:24 pm 1.Mark Graban said …
That’s a great story. I always find it rewarding when I see other people engaged with their own ideas and suggestions. It’s sad when I hear a hospital employee say “nobody [administration] ever asked me what I thought.” This was sad when I heard it back in manufacturing, so this isn’t just a healthcare phenomenon. It’s a human one.
It’s a shame when we get into the dynamic of leaders pretending they have all of the answers (they don’t) and then the employees expect administrators to answer everything for them.
It’s easy to say “people need to make suggestions” but it’s more challenging sometimes to get that switch “turned on,” to give people permission to make changes. Sounds like you’re doing that and facilitating it, so congrats.
on 07 May 2007 at 5:32 pm 2.Ted Eytan said …
Thanks, Mark! It gets even more interesting, harnessing the power of blogs, when I looked back at the same work addressed by a different care team and described it a year ago. See my next post…